Residents of Padil and activists of Kannada Katte and other organisations on Tuesday staged a protest outside the office of the Project Director, National Highways Authority of India, demanding repair of the pothole-filled stretch of Mangaluru-Bengaluru National Highway near Padil on the outskirts of the city.
The residents accused the NHAI authorities of not showing interest to repair of the stretch. The pathetic condition of the road had slowed down the movement of vehicles on this busy stretch and traffic jam had become the order of the day, the residents alleged.
“If my daughters leave house in Kannur [near Padil] in bus at 7.30 a.m. they reach Milagres school [in the central part of the city] only at 10 a.m. Similarly they take three hours to return home,” said Mohammed Kabir and added that residents have been bearing with slow movement of traffic for the last two months.
Santosh Kumar, a resident of Kodakal, said despite lodging a number of complaints, the district administration and the NHAI authorities had failed to repair the road. “A few weeks ago, they just placed some asphalt to close the potholes. But it came off two days after it was laid,” he said. Mr. Kumar said that the contractors had done a bad job.
Murali Kumar, another resident, said the authorities had failed to clear the clogged roadside drains that were leading to water logging on the stretch below the rail overbridge. It was damaging the road, he said.
The residents and the activists had heated exchanges with the NHAI staff as they did not find any official in the office.
Just as the activists were getting agitated, NHAI Project Director Samson Vijaykumar came to the office and heard the activists and residents.
Mr. Vijayakumar said the problem for deterioration of the road was because of water logging.
He said steps would be taken to divert the water to the drain. He told the protesters that the NHAI would carry out temporary works to fill the potholes and ensure smooth movement of vehicles.
He promised that the NHAI would be carrying out permanent repair work only after rain subsided.
